OR’s Shea, Lazar light up Saints

DOVER — Anthony Shea and Nick Lazar turned Friday night’s boys basketball game between Oyster River High School and St. Thomas Aquinas into a two-man show.

To the Saints’ chagrin, both play for the Bobcats. They combined for 43 points to lead Oyster River to a decisive 52-28 Division II win over Seacoast rival St. Thomas.

“We came out with a lot of intensity,” Shea said. “We knew it was going to be a good game since the schools are so close. Everyone knows everyone. The shots were just going in.”

The Bobcats improved to 3-1 with their third straight victory while St. Thomas fell to 1-3.

Shea finished with a game-high 22 points, including 14 in the first 8:15 of the second half, and Lazar scored 21, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining in the first quarter.

“Offensively, Nick and Anthony were having a great game,” said Oyster River coach Stuart Mitchell. “More importantly, defensively as a team, especially from the second quarter on, I thought we did a great job. We really focused on that the last couple days in practice.”

At one point late in the third Shea and Lazar had combined to score 34 of their team’s 39 points. Shea hit six 3-pointers, including four in the second half. He opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer that gave the Bobcats their largest lead of the game, 44-18.

“I really think what started it was our defensive intensity,” Mitchell said, “and they just fed off that. Once that started to flow it worked really well for them.”

Lazar had two 3-pointers and a traditional 3-point play with 17.2 seconds to go in the first half that made it 25-14 at the break.

The Bobcats scored the first eight points of the second half. Lazar and Shea ignited the outburst with back-to-back 3-pointers.

“We didn’t know we were going to be that hot coming in,” Shea said. “We knew we needed a lot of intensity and that’s what carried us through the game. And our defense.”

St. Thomas had more turnovers (15) than points (14) in the first half.

“Those two kids played extremely well for them,” said St. Thomas coach Dave Sokolnicki. “It’s hard to win a game when you have more turnovers than points in the first half. They did some good work defensively, but we just didn’t handle the ball in a number of situations. You’ve got to make those plays if you’re going to beat a team like Oyster River.”

Jon Nartiff led the Saints with 14 points, but received little offensive support from the rest of the team.

Oyster River trailed only twice (2-0 and 4-2). Down 4-2, the Bobcats closed the first quarter with a 9-2 run.

Lazar’s first 3-pointer with 2:08 left in the first quarter put Oyster River ahead to stay, 7-4.

“It works great when you have two shooters like that,” Shea said, “because you can’t double-team anyone. That will leave one guy open. The shots were falling tonight.

“We’ve both had our times,” Shea added, “but not in the same game.”

The Bobcats led 25-14 at halftime and 41-18 after three quarters.

“It feels like we’re moving in the right direction,” Shea said. “We still have a lot to work on, but we took a step forward tonight and got a big win.”

“Give all the credit in the world to them,” Sokolnicki said. “They wanted it more than us for the whole game and they got it.”